Since April 2021, I have been a research employee in Ancient History and Cultural History of Antiquity at the University of Mainz. In this role, I am active in teaching and teach seminars and practice classes for bachelor’s students every semester. I like to supplement my courses with teaching projects, field trips and other activities in order to deepen the subject matter and supplement it in a clear and vivid way. In my research, I focus on the cultural history of the Roman Empire, in particular on games and other aspects of popular culture. I am also interested in the environmental history of antiquity and the historical relationship between humans and animals. I am also interested in the influence of early Christianity on changing ideas of nature and the environment, as well as on cultural practices and everyday life. I defended my doctoral dissertation on animal fights as public entertainment in the late antique East of the Roman Empire in February 2024. Before going to the University of Amsterdam for my doctorate, I completed a bachelor’s program of study in history and Economics at the University of Mannheim and a binational master’s degree in history in Paris and Heidelberg.
| January 2024 | Doctorate at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, title of the thesis: “Animal Hunts in Late Antiquity. Continuities and Changes Between the 4th and 6th Century in the East of the Roman Empire.” |
| since April 2021 | Research employee at the Historical Seminar, research unit Ancient History at the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz |
| 2017 – 2024 | Doctoral candidate in Ancient History at the Amsterdam School of Historical Studies, Universiteit van Amsterdam (until November 2020 with a doctoral scholarship from the Heinrich Böll Foundation) |
| 2017 | Editorial assistant at the Collaborative Research Center Material Text Cultures of the Ruprecht Karls-University Heidelberg |
| 2016 – 2017 | Research employee at the chair for Ancient History at the University of Mannheim |
| 2015 – 2016 | Student assistant at the Historical Institute of the University of Mannheim |
| 2014 – 2015 | Intern at the German Historical Institute Paris |
| 2014 – 2016 | Master’s degree in History in the binational master’s program at the Ruprecht Karls-University Heidelberg and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris |
| 2011 – 2014 | Student assistant and tutor at the Historical Institute of the University of Mannheim |
| 2010 – 2014 | Bachelor’s program of study in History and Economics at the University of Mannheim |
- Association of Historians in Germany
- Mommsen Society
- Network Cultural and Literary Animal Studies (CLAS)
- Sylvain Forichon, Les spectateurs des jeux du cirque à Rome (Ier siècle a. C. au Vie siècle p. C.). Passion, émotions et manifestations (= Collection Scripta Antiqua 133), Bordeaux 2020, in: Klio 105/1 (2023), 388-392.
- Alexander Puk, Das römische Spielewesen in der Spätantike. Berlin/Boston 2014, in: Plekos 21 (2019), 291-297.
- Article “Voor de leeuwen! Dierengevechten in de oudheid”, in: Geschiedenis Magazin 59/6 (2024), 21-24.
- Blog-post: “When do we get to see bears and panthers fighting?”, in: in: Lived Time-Blog, Universiteit van Amsterdam (Februar 2024)
- Podcast-Interview: „Streicheln oder schlachten? Die Geschichte von Tieren und Menschen“, Terra X History (Oktober 2023)
- Various contributions on animal and gladiator fights in the Roman Empire, published on the website antikersport.uni-mannheim.de
- Conference report (together with R. Maritz and A. Parrisius): „Power-Relationships in Court Societies. Marriage, Concubinage, Friendship, Kinship, and Patronage in Historical Perspective”, Internationaler Forschungsworkshop, 05.03.2015-06.03.2015, Paris, in: H-Soz-u-Kult, 25.05.2015.
- Conference report (together with C. Buyken): „France and the German Question, 1945−1990“, Konferenz, 07.02.201309.02.2013, Paris, in: H-Soz-u-Kult, 25.09.2013.
- Conference report (together with L. Berger and C. Buyken): „Wagner et la France”, Konferenz, 13.02.2013-15.02.2013, Paris, in: H-Soz-u-Kult, 11.05.2013.
- Lecture title: „‘Filling the bellies of the beasts’. Late antique Christian criticism of animal hunts and the problem of chain consumption“
Annual Meeting of the Society of Classical Studies, Panel „Animal-Human Interactions in Late Antiquity“, Chicago (IL) (Januar 2024) - Lecture title: „Die letzten ihrer Art. Über das Ende der römischen Tierhetzen im 6. Jh. n. Chr.“
Eberhard Karls-Universität Tübingen, Althistorisches Kolloquium, Tübingen (Prof. Dr. Mischa Meier) (November 2023) - Lecture title: „From arena sands to ivory carvings. Animal hunts as consular self-representation“
Schlesische Universität Katowice, Konferenz „Byzantine Animals between Materiality and Fantasy”, Kattowitz (Juni 2023) - Lecture title: „Römische Tierhetzen im Dienst politischer (Selbst-)Darstellung in der Spätantike“ Universität Graz, 15. Jungakademiker*innen-Tagung „Schrift, Wort und Bild im Dienste staatlicher Propaganda in der Antike“, Graz (November 2021)
- Lecture title: „Material evidence for animal hunts in the cities of the late antique Roman East“
Forum Cities and Settlements, Onderzoeksinstituut Klassieke Oudheidstudiën (OIKOS), online (März 2021) - Lecture title: „Animals out of Place. Organising and criticising animal hunts in Late Antiquity“
Workshop „Antiquity and the Anthropocene“, University College Dublin, online (Februar 2021) - Lecture title: „Animals out of Place. Spätantike Tierhetzen zwischen Popularität und Kritik“
Kolloquium des Nachwuchsforschernetzwerk Cultural and Literary Animal Studies (CLAS), Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, online (Dezember 2020) - Lecture title: „‘His eyes fastened on the bear as it bites‘. The appeal of Roman animal hunts and their late antique audiences“
Oudhistorici Dag (Niederländische Jahrestagung der Alten Geschichte), Amsterdam (Januar 2020) - Lecture title: „Spectators of animal hunts in Late Antiquity. Fascination, group dynamics and criticism”
Forschungsseminar Alte Geschichte von Prof. Dr. Emily Hemelrijk, Universiteit van Amsterdam (Dezember 2019) - Lecture title: „In der Hand der Zirkusparteien? Die Organisation von Tierhetzen im 5. und 6. Jahrhundert n. Chr.“
Forschungsseminar Alte Geschichte von Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leppin, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt (Mai 2019) - Lecture title: „Popular culture as political capital. The organisation of animal hunts within the changed administrative hierarchies of Late Antiquity“
Konferenz „The Popular in Classical Antiquity“, University of Pennsylvania (April 2019) - Lecture title: „The organisation of animal hunts in Late Antiquity as a system of human and non-human interaction“
Konferenz „Classics in the Anthropocene“, University of Toronto (April 2019) - Lecture title: „The Emperor Anastasius and the Banning of Animal Hunts”
Forschungsseminar Alte Geschichte von Prof. Dr. Emily Hemelrijk, Universiteit van Amsterdam (März 2017) - Lecture title: „Tiere in der römischen Arena.“ Forschungsseminar Alte Geschichte, Mannheim von Prof. Dr. Christian Mann und Jun.-Prof. Sofie Remijsen, Universität Mannheim (November 2013)
- Lecture title: „Die Alterität im Tier. Die Konstruktion römische Identitäten im Amphitheater“
Studentische Tagung „Human Identity Under Construction”, Albert Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg (Juli 2013)
- Lecture title: „Erst kommt die Unterhaltung, dann kommt die Moral? Die Zuschauer spätantiker Tierkämpfe im Konflikt zwischen römischen Traditionen und christlicher Kritik.“
Rotary Club Darmstadt (September 2020) - Lecture title „Von Tierkämpfen der Antike zu ‚Cockfight Nationalism‘“ Promovierendenforum der Heinrich Böll-Stiftung, Berlin (Mai 2018)
- Cultural history of late antiquity
- Historical anthropology
- History of Roman games
- Festival cultures of antiquity
- Man and nature in antiquity
In late antiquity, animal hunts were a very popular form of public mass entertainment in the cities of the Roman Empire. At the same time, however, they were sharply criticised by Christian authorities, who saw in the spectacular fights of animals and humans a pagan ritual that corrupted the souls of the spectators. The animal hunts can therefore be understood as a contested cultural practice that represented a crystallisation point for various conflicts in the changing late antique society. In my doctoral dissertation project, I examine these points of conflict and take into account various groups of actors who had an interest in the animal hunts from different perspectives. The work is a case study of how late antique society dealt with the simultaneity of long-established Roman traditions and the new imperatives of the Christian religion.
The work is written in English and supervised at the Universiteit van Amsterdam by Prof. Dr. Emily Hemelrijk and Dr. Sofie Remijsen.
Schiemann, 2023, 26:51-28:46
| 2023 | „Framing the Enemy: On the influence of the fetiales in the context of declarations of war during the early and middle Roman Republic“, bachelor’s thesis, second supervisor |
| 2024 | „Der Isis-Kult in den römischen Westprovinzen“, mündliche Bachelorprüfung |
| 2025 | „Die Bildung von Frauen im Römischen Reich“, mündliche Bachelorprüfung |
